Waiting and hoping for health care help

Sunday

Mar 28, 2010 at 3:15 AM

The TV newscaster was breathless last Monday. Her head was bobbing as she spoke the words — "historic" and "health care coverage for all Americans."

I listened and felt curious and even mildly hopeful about the passage of President Obama's landmark health care legislation. But, like most Americans, I have no idea what it will mean to me and my family. It's a huge, complicated document that even the experts are having a hard time deciphering.

For me and so many others, there's a lot at stake. Will the new law help my son, Jack? He will be 19 years old in May. My husband, Dan, and I adopted him last year, just a month before his 18th birthday. As a foster child, he came with a New Hampshire Healthy Kids Gold Card, which gave him complete health care coverage. But, he lost that safety net the day he turned 18. The state essentially said, "Happy birthday, kid. Welcome to the world of adulthood."

We didn't know what to do. Dan and I had never had to wend our way through the maze that is our social service system. Dan called the state to ask for an insurance extension for Jack, who was and is still going to high school. It wasn't as if our son could go out and get a decent job with full benefits. He is just a kid who has had a pretty tough life. He needs a high school diploma. He needs community college. He needs time to grow up. He wants to be a police officer and will apply to go to the academy, but that can't happen until he is 21.

So, for months last year we were living in fear. Jack had no coverage. What if he got really sick? Would he be denied treatment? Would the cost of care wipe out our family's finances? Would we lose our house? And what would such a financial disaster do to Jack and his other four siblings, who we also adopted?

It was a very scary time for us. Without insurance, Jack's regular prescriptions were already breaking our family budget. It was costing nearly $400 a month for his refills. And he ran up a $700 bill for some other rather routine doctor's appointments during that brief time when he had no coverage at all. The $700 bill remains unpaid.

Jack now has a New Hampshire Healthy Kids Silver Card, which costs us $45 a month — a bargain compared to some of the horror stories I have heard about people's outlandish monthly health care premiums costing $1,000 or more. Jack's regular prescriptions run us about $60 a month, a vast improvement over the $400 we were paying. And he is covered if he gets sick.

My big worry is what happens next. Jack will no longer be eligible for Healthy Kids Silver once he turns 19 on May 11. Again he will be told, "Happy Birthday, Kiddo. You no longer have medical insurance."

I worry about how we will pay for his prescriptions and doctor's appointments. With five children under the age of 19, our budget is already stretched to the limit. And then there is the big what if. God forbid, but what if something catastrophic happened and Jack needed very expensive medical care?

Dan and I have already looked into getting Jack on Dan's insurance plan. It would cost close to $400 a month — another budget buster. I honestly don't know how we will pay for it, but I fear this is our only option. That would mean even smaller portions of Hamburger Helper for everyone in the house. We have already cut our budget to the bone.

And we are actually doing better than so many folks. Dan and I both have full-time jobs with health insurance coverage and our younger children, Jack's sister and three younger brothers, have Healthy Kids Gold Cards. For that we are grateful, but the question remains: What will the president's health care plan do for Jack? And we've only got a month and a half to figure it out.

Our problems are exactly why the much maligned Obama plan ended up squeaking through, despite the angry cries about big government and creeping socialism. There are far too many Jacks out there.

His story and the financial crisis our family is facing is becoming the norm. Too many average working folks are disenfranchised; too many small businesses are choking on their contributions to their employees' medical coverage. And, too many people are just floating out there with no coverage at all. Lose your job; lose your health insurance. Get sick, and maybe you lose everything. It's not such an unusual free fall these days.

And Jack is just one person in my family. I could tell you another equally troubling tale about my mother, who is 90 years old, has rheumatoid arthritis, is diabetic and blind from macular degeneration and is living in an assisted living facility until the money runs out, which will be very soon.

So those are my worries, a son and a mother who will be left out in the cold. That's why I didn't jump up and down and do a jig when Obama's plan passed. I'm pretty sure the legislation won't solve any of the immediate problems my family is facing, but I hope it helps somebody.

Like most Americans, I am waiting to see what happens next.

Mary Pat Rowland is the managing editor of Foster's. You can read her columns and join the conversation about them at her blog: www.fosters.com/marypat. Her e-mail address is mprowland@fosters.com.

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